THE BREASTFEEDING BLUES (reprinted for NBFW)

Before you think you’re going mad (or that I’ve got early onset Dementia) yes you have read this post before – about seven weeks ago, to be exact!

But this information really helped me to make sense of my own experience during breastfeeding (I just wish I’d read an article like this before having my two girls) and seemed to strike a chord with lots of other Mums too.

So, being National Breastfeeding Week, I thought it was fitting to run it again…

‘I breastfed both my girls without too much difficulty – so much so, I’m now having trouble convincing Lil Sis to graduate to the bottle!

Due to the great latching-on advice I received before I left hospital, I never had to deal with mastitis, or bleeding nipples, or any of those other horrendous side effects that a lot of Mums have to endure.

But I did experience something else – something I’d never heard other Mums talk about. I never said anything about it because I didn’t really know how to describe what I was feeling. I thought people might just think I was a bit strange if I tried!

As soon as the baby latched on this awful feeling of dread and foreboding would flood through me. My stomach would drop, my heart would pound, and I’d feel completely and utterly desolate.

To use a bit of Harry Potter terminology, it was like the Dementors were nearby, and were sucking all the light and joy out of the room. Then, 20 seconds later, all the horrible feelings would disappear.

When the same thing happened again after Lil Sis was born, I decided to try and work out what it was. I typed in: ‘Anxious feeling while breastfeeding’. I had to weed through dozens of sites, but eventually I found something…

It was a blog called A is for Akari and the blogger Kim was talking about feeling nauseous, guilty, sad, and generally yucky for the first minute or so of breast feeding. Then the feelings would just disappear as quickly as they arrived.

Dysphoria is the opposite of euphoria. Instead of feeling happy, elated and excited, you feel anxious, depressed, restless, and even nauseous.

As I read down the page, I knew this was exactly what I had been experiencing.

I’m not claiming to be an expert on this condition, or how it affects other people, all I can tell you is how it made me feel. For those few moments, I would feel utterly hopeless – like I had absolutely nothing in life to look forward to anymore. Which wasn’t at all true, as I was totally enamoured with my new baby.

Over the next few weeks the feelings pretty much disappeared and I forgot all about them – until Lil Sis arrived and they all came flooding back again.

Just like with Big Sis, they gradually lessened over the next eight weeks or so. Bubs is seven months old now so it’s not really a problem any more, although I still occasionally feel – for lack of a better word – icky for the first few moments of a feed.

Docs still don’t know all the facts about D-MER, since it’s a newly recognised condition, but here’s what I found out about the condition, from the support website.

D-MER is a sudden flood of negative feelings at the time of milk release, and lasts just a few minutes. It’s physiological condition, but it has nothing to do with the baby blues, or post-natal depression.

Symptoms can range from mild anxiety, to overwhelmingly sadness. At its most extreme some women will even feel suicidal thoughts.

Apparently it’s to do with the surge of the hormone prolactin as your milk is released. Simultaneously your levels of dopamine (known to lift your mood) plummet momentarily, leaving you feeling depressed and despondent until they level out again.

It makes perfect sense you think about all the changes and hormone surges your poor body has to endure after childbirth.

It’s reassuring to know there’s a real reason for these strange feelings, and I’m not just going mad! Well, not from this anyway…

I’d be interested to know if any of you felt similar feelings??’

For more information about Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex, visit: www.d-mer.org

1 Comment

This is so interesting, I didn’t experience it and hadn’t heard of it. Good on you for telling your story, the more women who are prepared for the realities of breastfeeding, the more will feel able to stick at it when it gets tough!

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About me

I’m Jacqui – Mum to two lovely girls; Big Sis, born Summer 2008, and Lil Sis, born Autumn 2010.
I was a features and travel journalist for 20 years, but now spend my days immersed in all things social media. I’m also a founding member of the boutique collective, Mothers & Shakers.